Public outreach at Speak to the Wild

Story Island shows up as a bare spot in an aerial photo taken of Trevor Goward's Upper Clearwater home

Want to rub shoulders with some of Canada’s most outstanding thinkers and writers?

There will be two public outreach sessions during the upcoming Speak to the Wild event, according to Trevor Goward, one of the organizers.

The first will be the dedication of Story Island on Goward’s property, Edgewood Blue (located just past the Upper Clearwater Hall, about 26 km north of Clearwater), on Thursday, Sept. 5, starting at 6:30 p.m.

Ted Chamberlin, author of If This is Your Land, Where are Your Stories, will lead.

The island will be dedicated to local pioneers Yorke Edwards, Bob and Hettie Miller, Charlie Shook, and John and Edwina Kurta.

It also will be dedicated to some of those who helped Goward in putting the Wells Gray World Heritage Year together: Jen Belle, Jason Hollinger and Karena Schmidt.

A musical interlude will follow the dedication, to be followed in its turn by campfire poetry readings by Patrick Lane, Emily McGiffin, JaneMunro, George Sipos, John Steffler and Jan Zwicky.

The second public outreach opportunity will be on Sunday, Sept. 8 – the last day of the Speak to the Wild.

Participants should meet at Helmcken Falls at 9 a.m. for a talk by Goward about the 100 years since first recorded sighting of the waterfall by a European.